Tring Athletic hit for four by impressive Wembley

Memories of a bright first half from Tring Athletic quickly faded in the second as they succumbed to a 4-1 defeat at Wembley after showing some defensive frailties.

Tring are going through a period of change at the moment, with Ian Richardson taking over the reins assisted by senior players Matt Jarvis and Stuart Stedman.

Despite missing five key players, the new management team would have been delighted by the start their young side made, with Ryan Sturges heading a cros just wide after only 50 seconds.

Athletic were passing the ball around nicely but they were jolted in the seventh minute when the home side scored with their first attack through Yassine Fehmi-Gil.

However, Athletic bounced back within six minutes when the home keeper failed to keep hold of a corner and Bertie Squires-Adams sweetly struck the loose ball past a posse of players to level the scores.

The visitors were enjoying a lot of possession but, ominously for them, it was their hosts that were creating the better chances.

Matt Evans made a good save from Joe Wright and only a great tackle prevented Attia Fekete from scoring. On the half hour mark Wembley took advantage of some poor marking to take the lead again through Calvin Kasirye.

Athletic continued to play the ball around nicely but their attacks lacked a cutting edge and they failed to test the home keeper.

With five minutes to go to half-time, Athletic were harshly penalised for a handball but justice was done when Fehmi-Gil fired the penalty over the bar. Athletic then had another lucky escape when Fehmi-Gil curled a shot against the bar.

After the break Wembley took the initiative and Athletic struggled to get going. The next goal was going to be crucial and it went to the home side in the 69th minute as a long free-kick was headed in from close range by Adam Humphries.

Any faint hopes Athletic had of getting back into the game were dealt a fatal blow six minutes later when Wembley added a fourth goal through captain Fehmi-Gil.

A potential collapse was on the cards for the visitors but to their credit they rallied and created their best chances of the game with Dave O’Connor forcing the keeper into good save from a free-kick, Kieran Turner hitting the bar with a terrific shot, Jack Westlake having a shot blocked.

But there were to be no last minute consolation goals for the visitors and Athletic suffered their fifth league defeat of the season.

It was a disappointing result for Athletic who will hope to get some players back for home games against St Margaretsbury on Tuesday in the Herts Charity Shield then Leverstock Green on Saturday.